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Pet Forum / Aquaria / Marine Reef / September 2006Faux-Reef?
As my tank is cycling, I`m pondering the the thought of a kind of Faux-Reef set-up. Not the plastic stuff!! Im thinking of having inverts that are not that expensive or are relatively easy to keep. (IE NOT Corals or anenomes!) For instance: Feather Dusters----are there different varieties of these? Also Gorgonians---but they seemed to die off pretty quick back in my undergravel filter days in the 80`s. I also had a tube anemone back then did great without any special lighting. Can anyone suggest other mostly sessile type inverts that might do well in a FOWLR tank with generic lighting? Plants are cool too, thanks > For instance: Feather Dusters----are there different varieties of these? These are readily available. Not that the site claims that all of them have "lighting needs." This usually means high intensity fluorescents. Note that the Christmas Tree worm they offer lives with a type of coral; if you can't keep the coral alive, the worm usually dies. > Also Gorgonians---but they seemed to die off pretty quick back in my > undergravel filter days in the 80`s. Not surprising. If you go for these corals, you might want to add an actinic bulb to your lighting. http://www.marinedepotlive.com/corals--gorgonia.html > I also had a tube anemone back then did great without any special lighting. > Can anyone suggest other mostly sessile type inverts that might do well in a > FOWLR tank with generic lighting? > Plants are cool too, > > thanks  SignatureGeorge Patterson All successes in conservation are temporary. All defeats are permanent. StringerBell wrote: > For instance: Feather Dusters----are there different varieties of these? http://www.marinedepotlive.com/inverts--featherdusters.html These are readily available. Not that the site claims that all of them have "lighting needs." This usually means high intensity fluorescents. Note that the Christmas Tree worm they offer lives with a type of coral; if you can't keep the coral alive, the worm usually dies. > Also Gorgonians---but they seemed to die off pretty quick back in my > undergravel filter days in the 80`s. Not surprising. If you go for these corals, you might want to add an actinic bulb to your lighting. http://www.marinedepotlive.com/corals--gorgonia.html > Can anyone suggest other mostly sessile type inverts that might do > well in a FOWLR tank with generic lighting? > Plants are cool too, Check out http://www.marinedepotlive.com/inverts.html and http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/categ.cfm?pCatId=497 and http://www.melevsreef.com/id/ Pay particular attention to any mention of what these things eat and what eats them. Sorry for the earlier post - hit send when I meant to token the page. George Patterson All successes in conservation are temporary. All defeats are permanent. Pardon my ignorance----I didnt realize Gorgonians were Corals. I dont mind investing in getting better lighting, its just that as a newbie I dont want to get hung up with the trial and error of keeping costly perishable corals and anemones. I thought the tank could be pretty nice with a bunch of feather dusters and some sponges. Am I right in thinking that the dusters are less delicate and easier to maintain than those other reef inverts? How about sponges--- are some types also on the less delicate side? > StringerBell wrote: > [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] > All successes in conservation are temporary. All defeats are > permanent. StringerBell wrote on 9/23/2006 9:07 PM: > Am I right in thinking that the dusters are less delicate and > easier to maintain than those other reef inverts? Not really. Feather dusters are filter feeders, and most people don't feed them enough. Corals that need light are easy if you know what you are doing, because once you provide *good* light, you are set, just keep the calcium and alkalinity right, and your set. You can also do some supplemental feeding, but the light is what will keep your corals going. > How about sponges--- are some types also on the less delicate side? Sponges are filter feeders too. As a general rule, small sponges that come on your live rock are easier to keep than larger sponges. Wayne Sallee Wayne's Pets Wayne@WaynesPets.com > corals going. > >> How about sponges--- are some types also on the less delicate side? > > Sponges are filter feeders too. As a general rule, small sponges that come > on your live rock are easier to keep than larger sponges. just echo that sponges are hard! Ya need lots fresh sea water > I thought the tank could be pretty nice with a bunch of feather dusters and > some sponges. Am I right in thinking that the dusters are less delicate and > easier to maintain than those other reef inverts? Yep. They need less light than most corals. Just make sure you don't buy a fish that eats them and don't overfilter the water. > How about sponges--- are some types also on the less delicate side? As Wayne reminded me, many sponges don't like much light. Put them under an overhang. They also like a fairly "dirty" tank. Most of what I know about them comes from reading; I had one as a live rock hitchhiker. It did well for a while, but a butterfly I bought to eliminate aiptasia ate it. I had fairly standard fluorescent lighting, which is probably insufficient for feather dusters but (apparently) good for sponges. George Patterson All successes in conservation are temporary. All defeats are permanent. Back-in-the-day I remember the LFS guys saying that the bio-load (waste-amonia production) of adding inverts to a tank was miniscule compared to adding fish. Is this true? Once the tank is cycled, can I add , say, a dozen feather dusters with half-dollar sized crowns simultaneously without creating a water hazard? Or, since they are worms, do they produce enough waste where adding this many would be a concern? > Is this true? Once the tank is cycled, can I add , say, a dozen feather > dusters with half-dollar sized crowns simultaneously without creating a > water hazard? Or, since they are worms, do they produce enough waste where > adding this many would be a concern? Yep, it's true. They're filter feeders, which means that they eat stuff that would normally be trapped in a particulate matter filter (such as a canister filter). If this stuff goes into a cannister filter, it will decay, producing ammonia for the cycle. If it goes into a feather duster, it will produce ammonia for the cycle. Machts nichts. George Patterson All successes in conservation are temporary. All defeats are permanent. "George Patterson" <grpphoto@verizon.net> wrote in message news:zVmRg.1018> > Yep, it's true. They're filter feeders, which means that they eat stuff > that would normally be trapped in a particulate matter filter (such as a canister > filter). If this stuff goes into a cannister filter, it will decay, > producing ammonia for the cycle. If it goes into a feather duster, it will > produce ammonia for the cycle. Machts nichts. I`m sorry---I didnt quite understand the answer, plus , I dont know German :) Are you saying that adding 12 feather dusters is OK, or that it is not due to a big ammonia load? thanks as always........ > Are you saying that adding 12 feather dusters is OK, or that it is not due > to a big ammonia load? Filter feeders eat stuff that would decay anyway, this being small particles of detritus suspended in the water. The amount of ammonia will be the same whether the feather dusters are in there or not. Unless, of course, you add so many feather dusters that you have to increase the amount of food you dump into the water. George Patterson All successes in conservation are temporary. All defeats are permanent. Yes fish produce more ammonia. Wayne Sallee Wayne's Pets Wayne@WaynesPets.com StringerBell wrote on 9/23/2006 11:19 PM: > Back-in-the-day I remember the LFS guys saying that the bio-load > (waste-amonia production) of adding inverts to a tank was miniscule compared [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > water hazard? Or, since they are worms, do they produce enough waste where > adding this many would be a concern? Feather dusters don't need light either, but they do need to filter a lot of food. The dirtier the tank, the happier they are. Wayne Sallee Wayne's Pets Wayne@WaynesPets.com George Patterson wrote on 9/23/2006 10:33 PM: >> I thought the tank could be pretty nice with a bunch of feather >> dusters and some sponges. Am I right in thinking that the dusters are [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > All successes in conservation are temporary. All defeats are > permanent. Just beware of hungry puffers, bastard hermit crabs and nasty spine cheek clowns. had a few of those worm things.... ummm die on me but aside from that very cool and tough to in a mature tank > Feather dusters don't need light either, but they do need to filter a lot > of food. The dirtier the tank, the happier they are. [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] >> All successes in conservation are temporary. All defeats are >> permanent. Try caluerpa grasses or halmidia they look cool and your fish can eat the caulerpa. Can you add Caulerpa while the tank is cycling? Do this plant play any role in the cycle? Will it survive if I put some in? > Can you add Caulerpa while the tank is cycling? Do this plant play any > role in the cycle? Will it survive if I put some in? yes chuck it in I have used it in sumps before it eats nitrate and ammonia sorta vege filter by removing excess growth you remove nitrates from the tank |
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